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August 31, 2011

I have been asked a few different times what are some of the things that I like for cloth diapering as far as favorite pockets, aio's, prefolds etc. So I thought I would through together a little post sharing what my favorites are!

Covers: I have tried numerous covers. WAHM covers and Big Brand covers. I have to say that so far the Big Brand Covers are the ones that have worked the best for us. This might not be true for everyone but it is for me. I get asked which is my favorite and that is a hard choice between the Thirsties Duo Wrap and the Bummis Super Whisper Wrap. Here is why I like these two:

Thirsties: Comes in two sizes, awesome colors and prints, covers have rise adjusters, comes in velcro and snaps ( I personally don't care for the snaps on these covers), always can get a good fit on my LO, gussets are great on these, the color doesn't seem to fade, its a little stretchy so its easy to pull around a prefold or fitted. I guess the one thing I didn't like about these covers was that when I put them on my son (18m at the time) with a prefold they would start to sag and droop down after time because he was constantly moving around. I would recommend using a snappi with a prefold under this cover to help prevent this from getting saggy.

Bummis: Comes in fun prints (and white), available in 5 sizes (newborn-XL) I have only ever needed the small and medium. The large was to big on my older son, younger son hasn't grown into that size yet but probably will. Comes in velcro which I have found to hold up great. We have had our for a year now and it still looks practically brand new! Covers are very strong and durable and hold snug in place with out sagging. The legs do not have gussets on the SWW but I haven't found this to be a problem because they are sized and always fit around the legs just right.

Pocket Diapers: Pocket Diapers are probably my favorite kind of diaper because I can easily adjust the amount of absorbancy they have. Which is super because my boys are massive heavy wetters and I always have to add extra into the diapers they wear. Pockets make up the majority of my stash. I have tried so many different kinds of pocket diapers I can't even count the amount! Here is my pick for pocket diapers:

bumGenius 4.0: Now I know some people have issues with 'big brand' companies and would much rather prefer to support WAHM which is super but when you find a diaper that works for you, you use it. I have mostly BG 4.0 pockets and a few 3.0s. These are the pocket diapers I have had the most success with. They fit my skinny minny and my chunky monkey. I can say that even with the 'new and improved' velcro that I still HATE it and had almost all of my velcro 4.0 diapers converted. I find that the pockets are easy to stuff, easy to un-stuff. I don't the the shells have stained at all from poo but the inserts have but that's not a big deal. If I had a readily available clothes line they would sun out.

All In Ones (AIO's): Finding an AIO that is trim can be pretty easy. Finding an AIO that drys quick, dones't get stinky from holding so much bulk...that can be tricky. I have tried quite a few different brands of AIO diapers and liked them each for different reasons. Here are my picks for AIO diapers:

Bummis Easy Fits (Tots Bots): These are hands down my favorite AIO diaper...why? That's pretty easy, they are soft, super adorable prints and colors, they dry fast, they are trim, they UNSTUFF Themselves. Wait, what? An AIO that un-stuffs? Its all one piece but its insert is a long strip that you have to tuck into the diaper, that's why it drys so fast. I also like this because even though its an AIO it has a pocket that I can stick an extra hemp insert into for my heavy wetter. Here is the bonus: I have NEVER EVER had a stink issue with this diaper. A lot of my other AIO diapers tend to get stinky after a while. I have not had an issue with this diaper and stink. SWEET!

Drybees AIO: This was a favorite of mine when my son was smaller. I have a few of the size smalls were are so cute and trim. They also have a pocket that you can add extra inserts into. I found that the best way to dry these diapers was to turn them inside out after taking them out of the washer. Otherwise it did take longer for them to dry. As my son got older and started peeing more I noticed that he would leak more around the legs so I started using these less. Oh, these also hold up GREAT over time.

All In Two (AI2) Diapers: I will honestly say that I'm not a huge fan of AI2 diapers. Maybe its because the ones I have tried haven't really impressed me that much. Some have the snap in liner and you cansupposiely 're-use' the shell but after the baby pees the shell is all wet so why would you want to reuse it? My pick for favorite AI2 diaper is:

SoftBums: I think I liked this one because of the fit, softness, and least amount of problems. I never reused the shell though....

Prefolds: I have used only a handfull of different prefolds and my favorites were Bummis and Osocozy prefolds. They are pretty much identical and I can't tell the difference of which is which in my basket of prefolds.

Fitted Diapers: Okay here is where I turn sides and favor the WAHM's products over the 'big guys'. I have tried neumerous fitted from bigger companies and haven't been to impressed, they worked but never really gave me that 'tingly feeling' that you get when you find the right one...okay sorry i didn't know how to describe it. Give me a couple of adorable WAHM made fitted diapers and I am sold! My picks for fitted diapers are:

Cheeky Diapers: OS, cute prints, completely customized all the way down to the trim fabric! There is an additional snap in soaker, great for over night, bulker but not bad. Not as soft as it started out but not bad either.

Wet Bags:

Monkey Foot Designs: I like the waterproof material they use the best, plus the amazing prints they have.

Planet Wise: I love the variety of sizes they offer, cute prints, I have had fading and some hole appear on my bags though.

Wipes: I am for the most part using all cloth wipes which is going really good. I love my wipes from Ecobuns (Just bought more today) They are the right size and have a great material on the back for getting the yuck off in one swipe and the other side is a soft fun print flannel material. They are $1.50 a piece and I could probably make some myself for cheaper but I don't have time for that at the moment and Ruthanne, the lady who makes them, does a great job.

I would do more items but its time for me to get off the computer. I hope you liked my list of items I like the most. I will try and do a list of items like detergents, creams etc that I like in the next few weeks. Feel free to share your likes and dislikes in the comments below or if there is a kind of product you want to know what my favorite is of ask below! Thanks!

August 24, 2011

Traveling with cloth will often times FREAK people out. They don't know how many diapers they will need or if they will have enough. They worry about having to wash them, store them, traveling with them in general. But I hope I can calm some nerves with this post. My little family recently went on a vacation to Chicago. We had a wonderful time. I will be honest and say that I did worry about not having enough diaper to last the whole trip...which was just kind of stupid to do because I have around 100 diapers! But anyways I wanted to make it as easy as possible so I went for easy while packing. Best Bottoms!

Nicki's Diapers sent me a Double Chocolate Best Bottoms cover and 2 stay dry inserts and an overnight insert to review just in time for our vacation. As you can see in the pictures below I have a good assortment of Best Bottoms diapers. I had previously done a review on Best Bottoms and I can honestly say I was hooked on them. They are great diapers.
What I brought with me was every Best Bottom diaper I had. This included:
6 covers, 2 medium overnight inserts, 1 large overnight insert, 6 hemp medium inserts, 3 stay dry medium inserts and about 15 large stay dry inserts. I also brought along some other diapers that I knew would be great for the long car trips and overnights if needed.
Now that I had my diapers ready to go it was time to get everything else I would need for the trip. I packed every wet back I had as well as a sample pack of detergent, 2 different butt creams (although they weren't needed), and I wasn't sure what I wanted to do about wipes so I (well my husband) decided against cloth wipes and I some how decided to bring flush-able toddler wipes....genius! Anyways.... Everything for cloth diapering went into one large basket and we had a smaller diaper bag for our day trips. Each night or time we were back at our hotel we would simply restock the diaper bag and were good to go.

While looking around for hotels I made sure to look for one that offered guest washer and dryers and the one we stayed at we did use once more so just that our diapers wouldn't sit all week in a wet bag and get stinky. We washed the diapers one time and hung them to dry around the room on hangers and racks and in front of a fan.

Our trip went quite well with the Best Bottoms diapering system. I would recommend this not only for trips but for every day use as well. Its quick and easy, and very affordable. You could get by with 4 covers and some inserts.

A quick look at the inserts. Each size is stitched with a different color for easily telling them apart!

One thing that was nice with the Best Bottoms system was that you only have to change out the inserts. Which take up less space. I could reuse the cover as long as it wasn't poopy. I did hand wash a couple of the covers at couple different times because poo got on them and then I just hung them on the shower curtain to dry. It worked out great. We also were able to bring a smaller diaper bag with us because the Best Bottoms take up less space than a pocket diaper or an AIO diaper!

I love the fit of this diaper on my son. I only have one velcro, the rest are snaps. I personally prefer the snaps of the velcro. I seem to get a better fit on my son with the snaps and its harder for him to take off!

August 16, 2011

My boys and I always enjoy doing crafts together. It allows us some 'down time' (even thought it can get messy). But I think messes are just fine and dandy as long as they are happen for the right reasons. When doing crafts I try to think of ways to reuse items that I have lying around the house rather than having to spend money to buy new items. One of our favorite things to do it Paint...yes...paint...it is possible with a one year old and a two and a half year old. I recently went to visit my local cloth diapering store Ecobuns and while talking with Candis she asked if I would be interested in reviewing a new product they recently got in. Eco-paint. Sounds fun! So here is our adventure with this neat Eco-paint.Eco-paint comes in a long tube with the containers stacked inside. The lid pops off really easy so if your kid grabs it off the shelf the containers are going to fall out.

This paint is different than most you would pick up at your local craft store. This paint is of course all natural, we will get to that later, but its also powder. You mix together how much you need with equal parts water and powder so in my opinion, no waste!Eco-Paint comes in 5 fun colors: Blue, Pink, Green, Orange and Yellow. I thought from the sticker on top of one container that I would have purple paint but when mixed it turned out to be pink instead, not really a big deal.So we decided to use our paint first to make a cool caterpillar craft. You need some Styrofoam balls, paint, paint brushes, pipe-cleaners in fun colors and a hot glue gun(for mom's and dad's to use only). I got a 6 pack of 2 inch balls from my local craft store. I was looking for something easy for the boys to use while painting to set the balls on and I happen to have an empty egg carton laying around so I cut it up and it worked great for the balls and the paint. Mixing the paint is really easy to do. You just use equal parts paint powder to water and mix them together. I did find that the pink paint for some reason seemed runnier than the others but still functioned just as well. I did a teaspoon of powder to a teaspoon of paint and it made just the right amount for what we needed.I mixed the paints in the egg cartons that I had cut up. This worked great for a couple but I noticed that some of the bottom of the egg cartons had small holes that did leak out a bit. They were just the right size for the paints and brushes though.When I decided to do this craft I was baby sitting my nephew. We did this during nap time for my diaper model (Zeke) was sleeping and my son Eli (pictured below) and my nephew Cole got to paint with me.The boys loves painting with this EcoPaint. They did really well too. This is typically considered a finger paint although for the craft we used here in this post paint brushes worked much better than fingers. My nephew Cole (below) had a blast too and was concentrating on getting every section covered with his blue paint.The boys only had patience to do about one ball each. I just wanted to get the project done so I painted the remaining balls. They did the blue and pink and I did the green. I am typically a fan of bright colors so when I seen the blue and the green I was a little bummed at first although they are both actually very pretty colors. But after using the other colors they went really well together and I am happy with all 5 colors that comes in the EcoPaint Tube.Here are all the colors together: Blue, Pink, Green, Orange and Yellow. And after letting the balls dry overnight I assembled the caterpillar with toothpicks and the hot glue gun. You can use wiggly eyes if you have them but I didn't, I only had a permanent marker. You can use the pipe cleaners for the antennas too.Over all I was VERY happy with EcoPaint. It worked great, the colors are fun. The boys loved watching me mix together the paint and water and seeing what happened.

Here is a little bit about Eco-Paint:eco-kids® is a line of art supplies that gives children the tools to create using non-toxic, natural ingredients and environmentally friendly packaging. Powder based exploratory finger paint is handmade with natural and organic fruit, plant and vegetable extracts from annatto seed, beets, carrots, curcumin, purple sweet potato, red cabbage and spinach, flour, cornstarch, wheat paste and earth clay. (5) 4oz. containers

Another thing with a lot of paints for children is that they have a strong oder. My hubby hates anything that has the slightest smell so this paint was great because smell as hard as I might I couldn't smell a thing!

If you would like to purchase some Eco-Paint for your kiddos you can head over to Ecobuns and check it out. They also carry Eco-Dough, which is like playdough but eco-friendly!

August 12, 2011

Night time diapering seems to be on a lot of peoples minds. I heard of one lady who stuffed a pocket diaper with 2 prefolds, 2 hemp inserts and 2 microfiber inserts...now picture the thickness of that diaper!

Oh that poor baby! How did it ever move! Plus the mom said that after changing the baby after it leaked she would un-stuff it to find that hardly any of the inserts were wet...

Over stuffing a diaper will cause it to leak because it doesn't sit correctly around the legs on on the waist of your baby. If you want to use that much stuff for overnight I would recommend using a cover instead of a pocket diaper. These pocket diapers are only made to hold so much stuff so when you over stuff them it causes the elastic to gap away from your baby which isn't going to work.

Try this instead:
-Go for Hemp prefolds like Babykicks and add a microfiber on top for quick absorbancy. A prefold (hemp) will hold A LOT of pee and its still trim enough for comfort. The only thing with hemp is that it takes longer to suck up the liquid. So that is why its handy to put microfiber on top of it because MF soaks up quick! (If using a cover DO NOT PUT MICROFIBER DIRECTLY AGAINST BABYS SKIN- this will cause dryness and irritation!)

-Fitted Diapers: Go for ones that are made of cotton or hemp, avoid ones that are made with microfiber because not only will they be super puffy but they also won't hold as much. I loved my cheeky diapers fitted diaper. Goodmama also makes night time fitteds but they cost a TON. You can search Etsy.com and find some great fitteds.

-Consider Fleece of Wool Covers. A lot of people swear by fleece and/or wool covers for night time and never have a leak. I personally have never used these for night time so can't say to much about them.

August 11, 2011

I have previously reviewed for Go Green Pocket Diapers and had the opportunity to review their new "Champ" Pocket diaper. I picked out this cute minky cow print diaper for my son. I love when he wears it because its so soft!
This diaper comes with two rows of snaps across the waist. It also features cross over tabs and as you can see in the picture on the left side tab that is open there is a third snap. This helps to prevent wing drooping! There is also three rows for adjusting the rise of the diaper
In side the front pocket of the diaper (there is an opening at the front and back) there is a special snap. This is used for snapping in the microfiber inserts after you get them stuffed. I found it most useful for keeping the insert in the diaper while my son was wearing. After changing his diaper, I simply unsnap the insert and toss it in the pail. No need to un-stuff the whole insert as it will come out every time in the wash! SCORE!
Here you can see the two pocket openings at the front and back of the diaper. This diaper also features extra gussets around the legs. I found that these actually help a lot with big poopy diapers. Its blue berry season here so some nasty diapers came and went and the extra gussets helped to keep everything contained.
Here is the outside of the adorable cow minky print diaper.
And on my son who is almost 25 pounds and 31 inches tall. The tabs are on the first set of snaps so plenty of room to grow. If he was much smaller the cross over tabs would be super handy to use.
Nothing is cuter than a baby in a fluffy cow diaper!
Bad picture but hard to get of a wiggly 1 year old. Its a side shot. Stuffed with one microfiber insert that came with the diaper. I love the trimness of this.
I really am enjoying this diaper. You can ask my husband, I use it a lot because...well we are big country folks and he grew up on a dairy farm and I grew up around farms as well so cows rock and there for cow print diapers are sweet! The fit of this diaper has been prefect every time, never any leaks, contains all poo, so soft, washes up great and for a pocket diaper it has a great price of only $15.95!

If you would like to purchase a GoGreen Pocket Diaper CHAMP head here.

I was sent this pocket diaper for reviewing purposes and am not receiving compensation in any way for writing this review. All opinions are of my own.

August 8, 2011

I was thrilled to be able to try out a Payton Fisher Bracelet! If you haven't heard of Payton Fisher Bracelets before, hold on tight because they are pretty neat! Lest I forgot something really important, I will share with you what Payton shared with me, because, obviously, he says it best:

My name is Payton Fisher and I am a certified business in the state of Florida. I had make a majority of products from necklaces, key chains, pet collars and leashes, lanyard, but the top seller and what people love are the survival bracelets I make. These survival bracelets are made out of 550 parachute cord, which means this cord can hold up to 550 pounds! Each bracelet contains 10-14 feet of this parachute cord! The military came up with this idea because they needed to hold a bulk amount of cord in a small place, so they made the bracelet. So if they ever needed to use this strong and durable cord in an emergency situation, all they have to do is unravel the bracelet!

I recreated this idea so people can represent their favorite sports team colors, college colors, organization colors or just your favorite colors! I make these bracelets in 5 sizes;
Kids (5 inches around)
Small (6 inches around)
Medium (7 inches around)
Large (7 1/2 inches around)
Extra Large (8 inches around).

These bracelets are made to last a very long time, guaranteed! These bracelets will not shrink, gain mold or mildew, or stink! These bracelets are machine washable!

I have 18 colors to choose from, giving you a very customizable option of over 5800+ color combinations to choose from!

Your information will be very safe because all transactions go right through PayPal!

I mean, really?! Parachute cord?! That is awesome! I've never had the chance to jump out of an airplane, but I think it would be the coolest thing (but you have to get me on a plane first....ahem). I couldn't wait to get this bracelet in my hands (and on my wrist!) I was so curious as to how heavy it would be and how it would feel on my wrist.

Payton allowed me to pick out colors - such a hard job for me, but then I remembered football season is rapidly approaching so...

ROLL TIDE!
(That's Alabama Crimson Tide in case you were unsure) ;)

The bracelet sits perfectly on my wrist and doesn't move too much (which is very important to me - I like things to stay where I put them!) The bracelet has some weight to it, but not that noticeable (not anymore than any other chunky bracelet that I would wear). I was also worried if it would be scratchy against my skin, but it definitely isn't. It doesn't feel any different than any other bracelet I'd wear.

As for ordering and size - my wrist is 6inches around, so Payton said a small would be perfect. It is!

Payton has two different clasps to choose from: plastic (which is what I received) and a stainless steel shackle closure, which is pretty cool too!

I've worn my Payton Fisher Bracelet to church and to a couple of outings and have received nothing but compliments on it - it is QUITE the conversation starter!

I also wanted to put the "machine washable" to the test, and it held up GREAT (I did air dry, as I didn't think a plastic clasp would hold up that well in a hot dryer!) I washed it with dark towels since I thought the red might bleed, and it came out looking like it went in!

Payton loves to help out others! If you or your child is on a sports team, consider contacting him to get bracelets made in your team colors! He also does fundraisers for organizations, so be sure to contact him for a neat and unique fundraising opportunity!

Payton has offered a generous deal: The first 10 customers to purchase bracelets from his site will receive a free bracelet (not included is the stainless steel shackle). Just mention that you heard about the bracelets on Cloth Diaper Addiction!

Be sure to head over to her Facebook page to keep up with all the latest happenings! Let her know you found out about her awesome bracelets here!

August 1, 2011

First we (Kristina and Terra) would like to thank all the wonderful WAHM's who sent us products to review and giveaway, and offered some nice discounts to their stores. I enjoyed learning more about some great WAHM's and I hope all the readers of this blog did as well.

Below is a list of all our WAHM Winners! There will still be a couple of WAHMS that were running behind that will be featured soon so keep an eye out for them.

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Welcome!

Thanks for visiting Cloth Diaper Addiction! If you have a product you would like us to review we would love to work with you! We are open to not only cloth diapers but other great parenting and children related products as well. Please contact me at: katherinejeanpost{at}gmail{dot}com